This and That.

I have to share with you all one of my quirks. Whenever I come to my blog dashboard, I see the number of posts written. When I see a nice even number (like 1400 posts) I get a thrill from it. I don't know why but seeing an uneven number (like 1401) just makes me feel like my blog needs another post. The same thing happens when I look at my sitemeter counter at the bottom.

This weekend I was intending to do a bit of sewing but when I sat at my machine on Friday night to finish off Joseph's overalls I couldn't put the presser foot down. This has happened twice before. It is always in the summer and I am wondering if it is an environmental factor that is making it happen. I have pretty much decided I am going to get the machine fixed and then sell it. I have a spare machine that I can use between now and buying a new one. There is a big Janome sale on in March though and they are my favourite machines. The only reason I have persevered with getting this machine fixed each time the foot has been broken is because it is such a great machine to sew on. I really love the way it sews and feels.

In the garden, Steve has made some really great progress. The retaining wall is up, the pavers are down and the turtles pond is installed. Steve thinks he will be finished in a couple of weeks and then he will start on the laundry. I will get some more photos up this week of the garden.

Have a great week everyone.

Quick 7!!!!!!

-1-

1400 posts.

This post is post 1400 on my blog.

Only 100 posts till I reach 1500. That is such a big milestone, I think I will have to have a giveaway again for it.

-2-

EWTN.

Today we had Arid Lands Communications come and install a satellite dish receiver. We can now get EWTN live. There are quite a few programs I am looking forward to watching on it.

Life on the Rock.

The World Over.

and The Journey Home.

-3-

Back Yard.

Steve has been working hard in the garden each night and we have the first retaining wall up. Tonight he is out there putting the caps on the blocks.

I am really impressed with how good it looks. Tomorrow I will take photos of everything.

-4-

Lent.

I have been thinking about lent a bit over this week and what we will do.

I have printed off a Lenten Calendar.

I have also started to think about what I am giving up for lent.

What are you giving up?

-5-

OAMC.

Last weekend I finally did a full cook for the next month. I have also written up our menu plan and know exactly what we are eating each night.

-6-

Little Athletics.

Only 4 weeks left for little Athletics.


-7-

Netball.

This winter, Amelia and Brigette want to play netball. Registration will be on Sunday so we will probably go down and enroll them.

Pop over to Jen's for other quick 7.

Friday funnies.

Pumping and home improvements.

Since coming home from Adelaide, I have been really busy. Any change to routine seems to put a kink in our days and makes me feel like I am not in the routine we need for everything to get done. The last couple of days have been better though and I am getting a lot done.

We have been looking into changing our internet, home phone and mobile phone plans. We are happy with the service mostly with our current providers but I was pretty sure we could get some better deals with other providers.

I have been spending a lot of time researching all the different deals and think we have come up with the best plan for us all. It will save us about 30.00 a month for every thing.

We have Christopher's pump basal rates all worked out. He has adjusted well to life with a pump too. He doesn't like pump change day much but that is only once ever three days. While we were getting his basal rates worked out I had to get up at midnight and 3.00 am to do blood sugar checks. I don't have to do them now we have the basal rate right but I have been waking up every night at that time anyway. I hope tonight I will sleep right through.

Steve has been working hard landscaping our garden. It is looking great. I cannot wait till it is finished. Here are a few photos of what he has done so far:

Here is Steve getting up all the grass so that we don't have weeds when it is all finished.

Looking back towards our house.

All the grass out and the dirt all leveled off to the levels we want them. The big area in the middle will be paved and have a retaining wall around the edge.

The pond we bought for our turtle. Our turtle has just about doubled in size and needs a bigger swimming area. This should do him nicely. We also have a mate coming to be here with him when we see Steve's sister again.

The paths around the garden area.

I am Australian.

I have so many things to blog about at the moment but time seems to be short. I decided to do this quick post tonight and will be back soon hopefully to give you all an update on all that is happening in our lives.

I love this song and would love to be somewhere one day when a flash mob happens. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Therese.

Stylish Blogger award.

Thanks so much to Deanne from Five Brothers, one sister for awarding me the Stylish blogger award.

For this award I need to state 7 things about myself.

1) I have lived in three different towns.

2) I was born and raised in Adelaide. Married there. . Lived in three different houses in Adelaide.

3) We moved to Millicent at the end of 2000. We lived there for 2 years.

4) After living in Millicent for 2 years, we moved to Port Augusta.

5) In Adelaide I lived in three different houses.

6) In Millicent we lived in two different houses.

7) In Port Augusta we have lived in two houses. I think this house we will live in for many more years. I really don't want to ever move from here.

I want to pass this award on to the following blogging friends.

1) Angie from Free Spirit Haven.

2) Nancy from Be not Afraid.

3) Coleen from Martin Family Moments.

4) Jeanne from A peaceful day.

5) Amy from Knit together designs.

6) Laura from Laura the crazy mama.

7) Lerin from Beautiful Chaos.

Pumping.

Christopher has adjusted to life with a pump very well. Yesterday we came back home. His sugar level did go up a bit yesterday but we were able to get him adjusted and back in range overnight.

Tom has a medtronic pump so we decided to go with them for Christopher as well.

We found out about the care link logbook while in Adelaide. This will be great for us since we live so far from the boys endocrinologist. We can upload the boys pumps via bluetooth to the computer and then the doctors can go to our page and read all the information we have put in.

This will be a great tool for us to see patterns and see where the boys need adjusting for any insulin intake.

Are you looking through clean windows?

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, The young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and
cleaned our windows." And so it is with life. What we see when watching
others depends on the purity of the window through
which we look.

The chicken dance

Our children insisted on Joseph's birthday that we had to have a party and play some games. Here they are doing the chicken dance.

at the cousins house.

Amelia, Joseph and Taylor.

Day one pumping.

Today Christopher started pumping.

He had a couple of low bsl this morning but after lunch and this evening we are getting some pretty good bsl.

I have to keep a fairly close eye on Christopher's bsl while we are getting the basal rate right. This is going to mean late night testing and getting up at 3.00am to check it. I hope it doesn't take too long for us to work out the insulin he needs for his basal rates.

First islet transplant conducted in Adelaide

First islet transplant conducted in Adelaide

Wow. Sounds like a cure for type 1 diabetes is on the way.

Happy Birthday Joseph

It all started with this post a year ago.

It lead to this post and this picture.

And here he is today:

And a cute video from a couple of days ago:

Happy Birthday Joseph. We love you very much.

Joseph and the bucket of water.

Steve has an ingrown toenail and has been soaking his foot each night. Tonight Joseph showed such interest in the bucket of water we took his nappy off and let him go for it with the water. Here he is in the water.

7 Quick Takes.

-1-

Count Down continues.

Only 6 days till Christopher starts pumping.

-2-

Cooking.

This weekend, I will make pumpkin bread, pizza rolls, fruit cake and some spaghetti sauces for us to take to Adelaide for meals and snacks.

-3-

First Birthday.

On Monday, Joseph will be a year old. I cannot believe his first year is over. He brings a lot of joy to our family.

-4-

Walking.

Joseph isn't showing any interest in walking yet. He can crawl really fast. He will walk around furniture but hasn't tried standing without the help of the furniture.

-5-

High Temperatures.

Everyday this week we have had temps in the 100's. The beginning of the week was okay but by the end of the week, our air conditioner was struggling. It works really well when it isn't humid but as soon as we have a little bit of humidity, the air conditioner just doesn't work well at all.

-6-

Rain.

We have had lots of rain here for the last couple of days. Last night, I woke quite a few times to rain pouring. I love the sound of rain on the roof.

-7-

10 things in 100 days.

I have started on my 10 things to do in 100 days.

So far, I have completed a new top for me.

I have written up 1 menu plan.

Started re organising our kitchen.

Jen is the hostess for 7 Quick Takes.

Pop over and see others 7 quick takes.

Steve's family history.

Here is the video of the book Steve made. He researched his family history for about 1 year. This book is the information that he has found about the first Royals that came out to Australia.

cyclone Yasi.

Please pray for the people in Queensland. They have had floods and now Cyclone Yasi is going to hit over night. Pray for the safety of all people.

Some photos from our week so far.

The first plums from our plum tree. We planted this tree back in August 2007.

Christopher's new shorts. I cut out 3 pairs on Saturday and so far I have sewn 2. This was the first pair I made.

Christopher playing his memory game today.

Today, Joseph managed to get the pumpkin out of the fridge. Someone must have left the door slightly ajar. This was the mess he made. Before I had the camera, he was crawling around in it and slipping everywhere. He thought it was so much fun. I did try to get a video of him slipping in it but because he saw the camera, he was just crawling after me instead.

Here he is after his bath. I decided to bath him straight after playing in the pumpkin.